儒琴英语咀嚼《伤残的树》(The Crippled Tree)一书的用词。《伤残的树》是英籍女作家韩素音自传之一。写她的中国父亲在欧洲留学时与她比利时母亲恋爱结合的故事，以及她在童年时期的生活见闻。韩素音的英文造诣在当代英美文坛堪称一流，其精美、清丽、雅洁的文笔早在西方评论界获得公认。
英语文学词汇 Literature Terms
21.jack-in-the-box
noun (Cambridge)
a children’s toy consisting of a box with a model of a person inside it that jumps out and gives you a surprise when the top of the box is raised
玩偶匣（一种儿童玩具，揭开匣盖玩偶即跳出）
All the children shouted this, laughing, imitating her head-cutting gesture, hopping up and down in the dust, pressing their faces to the fence, hoping for the door to open once again, for the incomprehensible woman to erupt, shouting incomprehensible things. It was a jack-in-the-box act they never tired of. (Page 12)
22. scuffle
noun [ C ] & verb /ˈskʌf.əl/
A) a short, confused fight or struggle at close quarters.
（尤指少数人的）短暂扭打，小冲突
B) an act or sound of moving in a hurried, confused, or shuffling manner.
匆忙、混乱或拖沓的方式移动的动作或声音；窸窸窣窣的声音；拖着脚走路
There was a scuffle. It was the crowd, making the way. The garden gate clicked, the steps of her husband paused before the shut door, then he was in the room. (Page 13)
23. leech
noun [ C ] /liːtʃ/ (Cambridge)
a type of worm that lives in wet places and fastens itself onto the bodies of humans and animals to feed on their blood
水蛭，蚂蟥
…said her husband who had now unlaced his boots ( he tramped the new railway line, and the leeches and an occasional snake forced him to wear boots though the hard leather broke his toes). (Page 13)
24. foolscap
noun [ U ]/ˈfuːl.skæp/ (Cambridge)
paper of a standard size, measuring 17.2 cm x 21.6 cm
大裁（一种标准的纸张规格，为17.2 x 21.6厘米）
The foolscap she used for her letter received her tears. Later she would continue the letter upon the tear-stained paper, describing the scene: … (Page 13)
25. rascal
noun [ C ]/ˈræs.kəl/ (Cambridge）
a person, especially a child or a man, who does things that you disapprove of, but who you still like
无赖，坏蛋，淘气鬼
Now they have come for the head, at last, with the drummers who are the village rascals beating the in front. The window comes behind lamenting loudly, but I know she does not feel anything because she does not weep；… ( Page 14)
26. brusquely
adverb /ˈbrʌsk.li/
markedly short and abrupt; blunt in manner or speech often to the point of ungracious harshness
明显的短而突然; 粗鲁的在举止或言语上直率的
It was 1958, cold early summer. My brother Tzechun, Son of Spring, and I sat in the cafe of the Montparnasse Station in Paris, and I folded the letter on which the past had lived again so brusquely. ( Page 14)
27. myopic
adjective /maɪˈɑː.pɪk/ (Cambridge)
medical specialized
A) not able to see clearly things that are far away
近视的
disapproving
B) unable to understand a situation or the way actions will affect it in the future
目光短浅的，缺乏深谋远虑的
Now Son of Spring was an olding man, very myopic, with a crew-cut and shabby clothes, and he sat opposite me at a table in a railway cafe in Paris.
28. cremation
noun [ C or U ]/krɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/
the act of burning a dead body, or a part of a funeral ceremony in which this is done
火化; 火葬; 火化仪式;
Why had this one been kept? Perhaps as a symbolic reminder of the burning, like a pinch of ash, a lock of hair, kept out of wholesale cremation. (Page 14)
29. bovine
adjective /ˈboʊ.vaɪn/ (Cambridge）
biology specialized
connected with cows
牛的；牛类动物的
a bovine virus 牛（痘）病毒
We went out on to the station platform, the trains herded like bovines in a stable, complacently dirty; the arid smell of the station was at me. (Page 15)
30. epistle
noun [ C ]/ɪˈpɪs.əl/ formal
a letter
书信
humorous Many thanks for your lengthy epistle, which arrived in this morning’s post. 今晨收到你写来的长信，非常感谢。
one of the letters written to the early Christians by the apostles (= the first men who believed in Jesus Christ)
使徒书信
How long had Mother continued writing those immense epistles of hers, first to her parents, then when her mother died to her father,… (Page 15)